


in the arms of the ocean (such wonderful things)

by the_crownless_queen



Category: Moana (2016), The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: F/F, I blame tumblr for this, but I love that this ship exists and that there's already a tag for it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-19 00:34:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11302080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_crownless_queen/pseuds/the_crownless_queen
Summary: In which Moana starts sailing alone sometimes, and Ariel finds a new, unexplored part of the sea, and the rest is history.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Marvelgeek42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvelgeek42/gifts).



> So I saw a post on tumblr noting that both Moana and Ariel were the same age, which obviously meant they'd be great together, and after about two seconds of consideration, I fell in love with that ship. You can pry it from my cold, dead arms.  
> Lin, this is for you, because we always support each other in our crazy endeavours ;)

Even though Moana loved the responsibilities that came with teaching her people how to cross the waves and leading them into a new era of exploration, she also sometimes missed the freedom she’d had on her first trip out into the ocean.

Which was why, every few weeks she just took out her boat and sailed toward the horizon. It probably wasn’t entirely wise of a newly instated chief to do such things, but Moana hadn’t gotten where she was by behaving conventionally.

She was careful though. The ocean was dangerous—she knew this perhaps better than most—but it it also was her friend, and Moana knew how to stay as safe as she could.

Sometimes, Maui joined her (Moana could never predict when he’d show up, but thankfully his preferred eagle form meant he was easy enough to spot from afar), but most of the time the demigod was busy doing whatever it was demigods did, and so Moana often sailed alone.

Well, not _entirely_ alone, as it turned out.

_(and no, she wasn’t talking about Heihei or Pua, though both animals did keep her company from time to time)_

**.x.**

Something was different about the ocean these days. It had been hard to pinpoint what had changed at first, but eventually Ariel had managed. It had been rather obvious too, and she had only missed it for so long because the change had happened in the part of the ocean her father had made her promise never to visit.

Now, obviously, Ariel hadn’t listened at first, and she had tried to visit these seas. She hadn’t made it very far—the water had grown cold, like something had sucked the life right out of it, and Ariel had turned around and swam away as fast as her tail let her.

Those waters weren’t cold anymore. In fact, they were the exact opposite: vibrant with life and warmth, and so, so inviting.

How was Ariel supposed to resist? After all, it wasn’t every day she got to explore a whole new part of the ocean. Who knew what she could find there, or dare she even think it, _who_?

“What do you think, Flounder? Should we go on an adventure?” Ariel asked her fish companion.

Flounder shook his head vehemently, and Ariel laughed. “Come on, you know it’ll be fun,” she said, and swam away, deeper and deeper into the waters she had once been unable to venture into.

The ocean really was different here, she noted absentmindedly. It felt warmer, but it wasn’t just a temperature thing. Ariel had always believed her father’s stories about honoring the ocean for all it provided for them, and she knew magic was real, and this warmth felt kind of like that, like the waters were hugging her and welcoming her.

It felt, she thought, like a mother’s love would. For some reason, the thought didn’t make her as sad as it usually did, though Ariel still forced herself to leave the memories behind and focus on the present.

She swam for a long time, Flounder by her side, before she noticed something. There was a shadow above her, moving fast across the surface of the ocean—though not as fast as Ariel herself, she remarked proudly.

Ariel’s heart suddenly started beating faster in her chest as she started to swim upward, toward the shadow. “Oh, do you think it’s a human?” she asked Flounder excitedly. “What do you think humans are like, really? I mean, I know I get their stuff sometimes, but I’ve never met one before, and,” she rambled on, Flounder swimming in alarmed circles around her until Ariel rolled her eyes at him.

“I know, I know, I’ll be careful,” she said, carefully swimming beneath the shadowy shape so as to say out of sight. The water looked to be rather clear after all, and Ariel knew that her red hair and shiny scales, as much as she cherished them, didn’t a good camouflage make. “I’m not going to let them see me, don’t worry!”

She trailed after the boat for a while, sometimes drawing near enough to brush her fingers against the surprisingly smooth wood. It felt different than the wood from the sunken ship she liked to explore, and Ariel found that her mind kept drifting to what the entire boat could be like. It seemed so much smaller than the ships she knew, and she itched to know what other differences there were.

“Just a quick look,” she promised both herself and Flounder, ignoring her companion’s panicked look as Ariel pushed herself away from the boat, angling herself so that if she poked her head out of the water, she should be able to see everything while, hopefully, not being visible for long. “What could possibly go wrong?”

As it turned out, everything could go wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your support!! It means a lot to me :) I hope you keep enjoying this story ;)

Moana’s first clue that something had changed—that maybe she no longer was quite as alone as she usually was, came from the ocean.  At first, when she saw the blue shine the water had taken, she thought it was just Maui, back with another of his tricks.

_(he liked to surprise her, she had found, by taking on forms he thought she’d find impressive. It rarely worked out as well as he hoped, but it was fun all the same)_

But the glint came and went, never really getting any closer, and more importantly, never surfacing. Now Moana wouldn’t say she knew everything about Maui—what human could?—but she knew him well enough to know that patience wasn’t his strong suit, and that he’d definitely have made his entrance by now.

Which meant that whoever was trailing in her wake wasn’t her favorite demigod.

“Who are you?” she asked the waves. The waves, evidently, didn’t reply, but Moana’s curiosity was now picked.

She _had_ been looking for a new island, but this new mystery was much more fascinating. The islands weren’t going anywhere anyway, whereas her new visitor might.

Moana leaned over, trying to get a better look, but no luck. It was hard to tell if it was because her guest was hiding or if it was merely because of the water—or maybe she had imagined everything and the sun’s reflection on the waves had tricked her?

No, she thought, watching the ocean carefully, there had definitely been something there.

“What do you think?” she asked the ocean out loud, whirling around on her boat until she was facing the direction she had first seen the glinting scales. “Should we invite our guest aboard?” she teased.

It was a little odd, sometimes, to be friends with the oceans, to know it listened to her wishes. Well, when it wanted to anyway. But Moana had grown up this way, and honestly, she didn’t think she’d know how to live any differently.

Besides, it wasn’t like the ocean would let her cause any harm, now or at any other time she called upon it. It did have a mischievous streak though, which was sometimes half the reason Moana thought they got on so well.

The waves splashed playfully against the side of her boat, and Moana laughed. She was taking that as a ‘yes, let’s invite them in’.

**.x.**

It was all very sudden, and entirely unexpected. In fact, Ariel had no idea such a thing was even possible—and she knew about quite a lot, thank you very much—but it happened, and it was very confusing.

The best way to describe it would be to say that her entire world just _lurched_ sideways, but even that wasn’t quite right. It felt like the ocean had been yanked from beneath her tail, but even that wasn’t quite right because Ariel could clearly still feel that the ocean was _right there_.

She just somehow wasn’t in control of what she was doing and where she was doing. It didn’t hurt, though the initial pull was as frightening as it was surprising, and it thankfully was over quickly.

With a loud ‘EEP!!’, Ariel found herself flung out of the water and deposited on sun-warmed wood, facing a girl who couldn’t be much older than Ariel herself but who was clearly very much human.

Ariel’s first thought was, ‘So that's what legs look like!’ They didn’t seem that practical, she noted, though she guessed having a tail on land wouldn’t be as helpful as in the water.

Her second thought, as the girl leaned forward a little, was that this human was very, very pretty.


	3. Chapter 3

There was a mermaid on Moana’s ship. There was a _mermaid_ on Moana’s ship. A _mermaid_. On _Moana’s ship_.

Moana just stared, speechless. Part of her wanted to scream, though she wasn’t sure if it’d be in surprise or because of something else. Hell, minutes earlier she hadn’t even known mermaids were an actual thing.

_(in retrospect, that was probably a stupid thing to assume after all she’d already seen—because if giant singing crabs and goddesses were real, why wouldn’t mermaids exist too?)_

Was there a protocol for meeting mermaids? A code? This should have been included in her lessons on how to be a chief—when Moana took on her successor, she’d make sure they’d be prepared for anything, be it demigods who could change into animals or _mermaids_.

She’d make it like, an entire chapter, and she’d call it ‘How To Always Expect The Unexpected (or why it’s a good idea to be prepared for anything)’. And she’d include how to prepare for meeting mermaids.

Realizing she had been gawking for a while now, Moana blushed. “Err, hi,” she said, extending a hand toward the girl, only to retract it immediately in an awkward ‘look at my boat’ gesture when the mermaid only stared at it warily. “I’m Moana.” She left off her other titles until she knew for sure her guest was friendly—she may be new at the whole ‘chief’ thing, but she wasn’t stupid.

The mermaid kept eyeing Moana carefully and with suspicion, but she shifted upward a little, her tail flapping uselessly against the wooden planks. It made a sound a bit like dying fish, a wet thud followed by a slight scratching noise, and Moana winced.

“I’m Ariel,” the mermaid finally said.

“Well, then, Ariel, welcome aboard my boat,” Moana replied, trying to paste on a cheerful smile on her lips, and failing.

This, she was realizing, had been a terrible idea, and she glared heatedly at the ocean before sighing. It had been her fault too, after all.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to-“ she trailed off awkwardly, hands swiping at the air to encompass their whole situation, “-scare you or anything, but I noticed you were following me around and we wanted to know who you were,” she finished sheepishly, rubbing at her neck.

Ariel frowned. “Who’s we?”

“I’m sorry?” Moana asked, startled.

“You said ‘we’,” Ariel replied, shrugging her shoulders, a move that echoed in her whole body and made her tailfins flutter a little, “but you’re alone.”

“Oh, _that_ ,” Moana said, laughing nervously. “I, err, asked the ocean for help?” Moana’s not sure why she’s so hesitant to reveal this now—gods know she hasn’t before—but something about Ariel makes her trip on her words.

“And the ocean answered?” Ariel asked, eyes wide open with wonder and surprise. “But, _how_?”

Moana shrugged, and plopped down to sit next to Ariel. “I don’t know. It likes me though, always has.”

The silence between them was awkward, and Moana cursed herself when she realized why. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I forgot—you’d probably rather be in the water right now, wouldn’t you?”

Ariel appeared startled by the question, though she answered quickly. “Well, yes,” she admitted. “I mean, I’m fine—obviously—but yes, in the water would be better.”

“Right.” Moana cast a look at their surroundings, realizing that it might be easier said than done. “Err, maybe you could, like, roll?”

Ariel sent her a look so unimpressed Moana almost recoiled. “I don’t think so.”

“Alright, alright, it was just a suggestion,” Moana replied, holding her hands up in a placating gesture.

In the end, it took some struggling, and a lot of effort and time, but they managed to get Ariel back into the water by having Moana help lift her tail off the floor as Ariel used her arms to get closer to the side until she could just dive in.

“I’d have thought your tail would be slimier,” Moana admitted somewhat bashfully when Ariel resurfaced, pushing wet, red hair out of her face with a wide grin.

Ariel made a face, offended. “I take good care of my scales, thank you very much! My tail does not get _slimy_!”

Moana bit back a laugh. “Fine, fine, I believe you.”

Ariel sighed. “They do get kind of scratchy if I spend too much time out of the water,” she admitted, like it was some great secret. “And dull,” she added with a pout.

“But you’re fine now, right?”

“Of course,” Ariel replied immediately, dismissing Moan’s concerns. “I wasn’t out of the water for that long.”

“Well, good,” Moana replied, nodding confidently. “I didn’t want to hurt you, or cause you discomfort, I just wanted to know why you were following my boat.”

Ariel blushed and ducked back into the water with a shrill ‘eep!’.

Moana blinked, taken aback, and leaned down to search the waters. “Ariel? Ariel?”

“I’m fine,” Ariel replied, though she had moved to the other side of Moana’s boat. “And, uh, I guess I just wanted to see your boat? I don’t get to see floating ones very often,” she explained sheepishly.

Moana grinned, proud. “It _is_ a very nice boat, isn’t it?”

Ariel smiled. “Well, I don’t exactly have a lot to compare it to, but it does seem, err, functional?”

Moana laughed. “Thanks. But I guess you probably wouldn’t have much need for boats wherever you come from.”

This time, Ariel laughed. “Yeah, you’d be right about that.” She paled then, and Moana recognized the expression of someone who was just remembering something they’d rather not.

“I’m sorry,” Ariel said, her one suddenly more urgent, “but I have to go. I- My father will be waiting for me.”

“You don’t have to explain,” Moana replied kindly. “I know how fathers can get.”

“He worries, that’s all,” Ariel replied thankfully, waving her hand somewhat regretfully. “So, bye, I guess?”

“Bye,” Moana echoed with a smile, before Ariel ducked back into the waves.

She didn’t have time to miss the mermaid’s presence before she popped back up, her cheeks split with a shy grin.

“And, err, if I wanted to see you again?” she asked.

Moana smiled. “Well, I’ll be on my boat for a while, though I can’t promise a location. I go where the ocean takes me,” she confessed.

“But you’ll be there? I mean, around there?”

“I’ll be around,” Moana confirmed.

Ariel nodded, determination etched on her face. “I’ll find you tomorrow then.”

“I can’t wait,” Moana replied, and she wasn’t surprised to find that it was true.

“Me neither,” Ariel admitted, blushing. “Bye,” she blurted out quickly before ducking back beneath the waves, this time for good.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I can't remember what exactly happened to Ariel's mother, I've decided she died because of humans. It's now my personal headcanon :)  
> Please don't hesitate to le me know what you think of this story! :)

It felt like Ariel’s heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest, but strangely enough, Ariel realized that it wasn’t out of fear—at least, not entirely. Rather, it was an odd mess of excitement, cautious pleasure, and yes, a little fear of the unknown.

But Moana, the human, hadn’t been anything like what Ariel might have thought to expect, had she dared dwell on such things. She hadn’t been like the humans in her father’s and tutors’ stories—those would have the humans painted as monsters, as thieves and murderers; and while Ariel was mature enough to realize that there had to be some truth to these stories (at least enough to instigate in her some measure of caution when it came to approaching humans), she could also recognize that they couldn’t be entirely true.

And now she had proof, real proof. Concrete evidence a hundred—no, a thousand—times better than the knick-knacks she had gathered from the sunken ships that showed that at least some humans weren’t bad.

_(had she been scared, when she had first realized that Moana had essentially captured her? Yes, of course. Ariel hoped she never had to feel anything as fundamentally terrifying as having the ocean yanked out from beneath her tail ever again, much less if it meant coming face to face with a human in the next instant._

_But Moana had let her go, had given her back the ocean without a single second thought even though that whole endeavor had been incredibly awkward, and for that Ariel can’t be anything but grateful. Even if she had only been in that situation because of Moana)_

She hasn’t been back underwater for long (the shadow of Moana’s boat is still there, at the left corner of her eyes) when Flounder finds her, chittering at her worriedly as he noses at her hair.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she laughed, pulling him into a hug and twirling around. “Nothing happened, I’m not hurt, see?” she added, letting him go so he could check for himself. Flounder was a bit ridiculous like that, always worrying about her like she couldn’t handle herself, but she loved him all the more for it. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure what she’d do without him.

She could tell that he wasn’t entirely convinced, nor reassured, but this wasn’t exactly the time for this.

“Come on,” she said, “I’ll explain on the way home—you know Father will worry if I’m not back soon, so we should hurry back.”

Flounder sent her a look that clearly meant ‘if you’re that worried about it you’d have left earlier’, and Ariel stuck out her tongue at him.

“It’s not my fault, you know,” she complained as they swam. “How was I supposed to know what time it is when-“ Moana was being so distracting, she didn’t say, “-time above is so _weird_!”

It was true enough. Time above water _was_ different enough from time under water that Ariel _had_ lost track of it at some point. It didn’t pass any differently, of course, but Ariel’s perception of it changed more than she had anticipated, and enough that it had thrown her, a little.

Flounder chittered at her some more, but he seemed mostly appeased now, and so Ariel took advantage of the fact that they still had quite a way to go—gods, it would be a pain having to swim back all this way tomorrow—to narrate her recent adventure to her friend.

Or rather, to talk about Moana.

“And Flounder, she’s-“ _beautiful_ , “amazing, and so kind, and she helped me even when she didn’t have to; and I know Father said that all humans were bad and that they’d take up away and kill us if they ever saw us-“ _like they did Mother_ , Ariel heard, but she shut off the echo of her father’s grief to the far corners of her mind, “but Moana isn’t _like that_ , she helped me get back to the water, and she’s friends with the ocean too…”

She rambled on and on, growing more and more excited as she retold everything she remembered about her new friend to her companion.

“-and that’s why I’m going back to see her tomorrow,” she concluded, smiling brightly. “Oh, I wonder what we’ll do! Do you think she’d agree to teach me about human things?” she asked suddenly. “That would be amazing—oh, don’t give me that look, Flounder, you _know_ I’m curious and I just told you that Moana won’t hurt me, really, it’s not even _that_ dangerous, she’s just one girl, I bet I could take her if I had to.”

Flounder shot her a truly dubious look, to which Ariel replied offendedly, “I could, really!”

Finally, though, they reached the palace and Ariel had to tone down her excitement. She knew her father wouldn’t understand or approve of her latest adventure—no more than he understood or approved of any of her endeavors, lately—and so it was best not to let him know about Moana. She liked to think that one day, though, she wouldn’t have to keep this a secret. That would be really nice.

Thankfully, she had arrived before her curfew, and so no one bothered her. Dinner was a quiet affair, and though, as always, Ariel was happy to hear from her sisters and share some of her adventures (censured for present company, of course), for once she was glad when it was over too.

After all, the sooner she was done with this, the sooner she could go to her room, and hopefully the sooner the next day would come.

And Ariel honestly couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, surprise, I'm not dead?  
> I've been meaning to start writing for this story again for ages but I only just got around to it. Hopefully, you guys can forgive me for the lengthy hiatus. I'll try not to have it happen again.

It took some work for Ariel to sneak back into the kingdom. Someone must have noticed she’d gone missing—ugh, which of her sisters had tattled this time?—and told her father, who had, in turn, told the guards to keep an eye out for her return.

She shot Flounder an aggravated eyeroll. “Really? It’s like they think I’m twelve or this fragile little girl.” She kicked her tail faster in her anger, putting in a burst of speed that propelled her forward and left Flounder struggling in her current.

She winced and swam back to help him. “I’m sorry, Flounder,” she said with a long sigh. “It’s just… I’m tired of them treating them like I’m a child. I bet Attina didn’t have to deal with guards and curfew when she was my age,” she grumbled. “I bet she could swim wherever she wanted to  _ whenever _ she wanted to.”

Flounder chirped and rolled her eyes. “So what if she never wants to swim anywhere? It’s not my fault she’d rather not leave the library.”

They hid behind a rock formation that let her see the palace clearly, and Ariel had to bite back a growl when she saw the guards who were trying (and failing) to look inconspicuous as they swam around the entrances. They wouldn’t dare to stop her, but she was sure they’d report to her father, who would, in turn, lecture her again on the dangers of venturing out alone.

Luckily for her, she knew of at least one way in that they didn’t—the crypt. No one ever went there, because it was creepy, and Ariel had found out a secret passage there ages ago. At this point, she was pretty sure no one else knew of it—except perhaps her father, but he’d probably forgotten it existed—and she always made sure to leave it looking exactly as though no one had been there in years.

The crypt was colder than the rest of the sea. Her father had told her a long time ago, when they’d gone to bid her mother goodbye, that this cold wasn’t natural. It came from magic, from too much death gathered in one place—it kept the kingdom safe, but it was why all the burial ceremonies were handled there.

Ariel swam through it quickly, Flounder silent by her side. She was nearly to her room, too, when the way was suddenly blocked by a wall of purple and yellow.

“Well, well,” her sister Andrina says, “what do we have here?” 

Ariel rolled her eyes and tried to push past her. “Nothing that concerns you,” she said, but she could tell from Andrina’s smile that she wouldn’t let this go.

Her sister wrapped an arm around Ariel’s shoulders and pulled her to her side. “So, what have you been up to that you came back so late?” she asked, winking.

Ariel blinked in confusion at first before her cheeks flushed as understanding rushed through her. “N-nothing,” she stuttered, willing her blush to reside.

Honestly, they were underwater and the ocean wasn’t exactly  _ warm _ at these depths. Why did it have to be so hard for her cheeks not to flush pink?

Andrina pulled her arm off Ariel’s shoulders to clap her hands gleefully. “Oh my god, Ari’, what happened? Did you meet someone? Was he nice? Was he a gentleman? Oh, when father hears you’re starting to notice boys he’s going to  _ snap _ .” She giggled as Ariel’s paled.

“That’s not funny,” Ariel moaned. “He’s never going to let me out of my room if he thinks that.” She could already picture it, too, and her shoulders dropped.

Andrina laughed and ruffled her hair. “Oh, cheer up little sister! I’m not going to tell him. Much more fun this way, and anyway I don’t even know who you’re interested in. Besides,” she added with a conniving look, “we both know he couldn’t actually keep you there.”

Ariel huffed but didn’t deny it.

It was a truth widely acknowledged in Triton’s kingdom: no one could keep princess Ariel still for long.

_ (Except that yesterday she had spent hours in one place with Moana and hadn’t even wanted to leave.) _

“You’re thinking about your boy again, aren’t you?” Andrina asked, smiling knowingly.

“There’s no boy!” Ariel retorted, swishing her tail so violently she nearly ran herself into a wall—would have, in fact, if Andrina had pulled her back, laughing still.

“Not a boy, huh?” For an instant, Ariel thought her sister would let this go. She should have known better—Andrina loved gossip and teasing her (only) little sister too much to give up. “A girl then?”

Ariel blushed violently before she knew what was happening, stammering denials wildly.

Andrina’s hazel eyes widened and they stopped, hovering in the middle of the corridor. “Really?” she asked. “You found a mermaid you like?”

Deciding that letting her sister think that was better than to let her know there was no mermaid but rather a very human girl instead, Ariel nodded sheepishly.

Andrina grinned widely, hugging her close. “Congratulations, Ari’! Why, I remember my first crush—it was only three years ago, but it feels like forever… You remember our history teacher? Well, he was hot  _ and _ kind and I literally couldn’t help myself…”

Ariel tuned her out with a huff of laughter. She could, in fact, remember this. As Andrina and she were the closest in age, with only one year to separate them, they had always been close growing up and had shared their classes. Andrina was also the one who shared Ariel’s love for exploring the sea, though not her passion for collection manmade trinkets.

She caught up to the conversation when Andrina squealed cheerfully, clapping her hands together. “A girl!” she was saying. “You liked a girl—Adella’s going to have to pay up!”

“Wait,  _ pay up _ ? You bet on me?”

Adrina offered up a sheepish smile. “Maybe?” When Ariel only glared at her, she sighed. “Alright, yeah, we did—but only because Adella kept going on and on about you  _ obviously _ liking boys like she did.” Her lips curled into a pleading pout and she started batting her eyelashes. “Forgive me?”

Ariel snorted, unable to hide her amusement. “Fine, fine, I forgive you— _ if _ ” 

Andrina groaned. “Oh sweet Oceanus, what now?”

“ _ If _ ,” Ariel continued like she hadn’t heard her sister’s complaint, “you cover for me with dad for today.”

“Ugh, deal.”

“And tomorrow,” Ariel added quickly, smiling innocently.

“And tom- Wait, why tomorrow? Oh, nevermind, I get it.” Andrina laughed. “Must be some girl, huh?”

Ariel thought back on the way the sun had made Moana’s shine colors she had never seen under the sea apart from salvaged men treasures and the way those eyes had been warm in the way nothing underwater ever really was.

Andrina was right about that part, even if she was wrong about the rest. Moana was indeed  _ some girl _ .

Andrina ruffled her hair again when Ariel refused to add more and shooed her away. “Go on, get in your room—I’ll bribe the cooks and bring you dinner, and I’ll tell dad you were out with me today.”

Ariel smiled. “Thanks, Andrina.”

“Don’t mention it,” the blond mermaid said before swimming away.

Andrina’s departure left Ariel feeling relieved—she knew her sister would take care of things for her now—but also weirdly confused.

She hadn’t thought that she liked-like Moana, at least not in the way Andrina had clearly thought she did, but what if she did?

What if her sister was right about this?

_ (Was this really possible? For a merperson to feel for a human? Weren’t they bound to be doomed from the very start? _

_ Ariel didn’t know everything, and anyway, she had only just met Moana, but she still hoped that it wasn’t so.) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All knowledge about Ariel's sister comes from wikia as well as some creative interpretation.


	6. Chapter 6

Yesterday still felt surreal, even now that Moana had had an entire night to reflect on what had happened.

A mermaid. She had met an actual mermaid. It was still hard to believe, and the mermaid—’Ariel,’ she whispered to herself as a reminder, dragging out the letters and odd sounds of it until it flowed in her mouth as smoothly as it had in the mermaid’s—had actually been on her ship for a short while.

“Do you really think she’ll come back?” she asked the ocean. She didn’t look at it, instead choosing to keep her body laid out on the hard planks of her ship and her eyes strained on the slowly lightening sky as the sun rose. She preferred the warm colors of the sunset but there was still something about the early morning that felt magical.

“What if she doesn’t come?” she asked nervously, fighting down the urge to start pacing. She had done enough of that during the night, and it had kept her up almost the entire time. She wasn’t about to start again.

It was a line of questioning she’d followed all night, and the ocean didn’t answer it now any more than he had before. Moana sighed and sat up in a swift move. She had decided not to sail during the night, keeping her sail down and tied to the mast, but she had used the stars to chart out several roads she could take during the day.

Normally, she’d be good to go by now, riding the waves already, but today her hands hesitated.

‘What if,’ she wondered, ‘the boat moved too much during the night and Ariel can’t find me anymore? What if she doesn’t want to come back? What if she _can’t_ come back—she mentioned a father, what if he stopped her? How would I know? Would I ever know?’

It was madness to think like this, to be this attached to a girl she’d only met for a few hours _yesterday_ , but Moana couldn’t help it. There was just something about Ariel that made her heart beat faster and everything look more exciting.

_(Was this what the legends were talking about; when they mentioned mermaids dragging sailors down to their deaths? They had stopped telling those legends years before Moana herself was born, of course—if it mentioned sailing beyond the reef, it was better not to mention it—but if she asked her grandmother nicely, the old woman had narrated those stories happily._

_Moana certainly felt like she could have been enchanted by the mermaid, but she also still had her mind. She didn’t feel like she was about to dive down after Ariel to follow her and inevitably drown._

_Had the legends been wrong, then, twisted by time and distance maybe? Who remembered ever meeting a mermaid these days anyway, if they even knew to remember that mermaid existed in the first place?_

_Was Moana safe because she was a woman and not a man sailing the ocean or did it simply have to do with respect?)_

**.x.**

It occurred to Moana halfway through raising her sail that Ariel hadn’t exactly found her at first light the day before. Wherever she lived mustn’t have been very close to Moana’s boat, though there had been some time from the moment Moana had first seen her guest and the moment she had ‘invited’ her on board.

And Ariel _had_ said she’d find Moana now that she knew what to look for. Considering how the red-haired mermaid had found her in the first place, Moana was inclined to believe her.

That didn’t stop her from being nervous though, or her stomach from feeling all fluttery. She kept breaking out in small, giddy smiles at the thought of spending another day with her friend, and it was distracting.

She told herself that if Ariel hadn’t shone by midday, Moana would leave. By then, it’d most probably mean that Ariel couldn’t make it, and Moana wouldn’t stay in the same place for an entire day. Not when there was an entire ocean out there for her to explore.

Something told her that Ariel would understand anyway.

She sailed in circles for a while, enjoying the way the wind pulled at her when she had to turn to make her go faster. She took the sharpest turns she could with capsizing, too, letting her fingers trail over the water with a joyful laugh.

It was just for fun. She wasn’t going anywhere just yet but no one was around for miles to see her goof off like this, and she took advantage of it. This was why she had to get away from her people sometimes—they were still frightened of the ocean as a rule, and though now the seas were safe to navigate again (or as safe as they would ever be, anyway), most of them kept eyeing it with caution. She could teach them how to sail easily enough, but she had found that teaching her people to _love it_ the way she did was a much harder task.

It was thankless, exhausting work and sometimes Moana herself needed a break to remind herself why she loved the water so much.

She was just about to start a new circle—going even faster than the last, too—when Ariel surfaced, her bright red hair an unmistakable beacon in a sea of blue.

Moana grinned and her heart fluttered in her chest. She waved her over cheerfully and waited as Ariel caught up to her.

It was really fascinating to watch her swim—it was unlike anything Moana had ever seen in her life. It reminded her of the swarms of fish she had seen around when the water was clear and still enough, but even then their movements were nowhere near hypnotic enough to properly describe the way Ariel moved, the way her scales glowed like fired as sunlight diffracted on the water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to research mermaids legends worldwide as well as anything regarding Polynesian legends and had a hard time finding anything I could use here, so I decided to go with the basic idea of mermaids drowning sailors as a myth.  
> If anyone knows more that could be used for this story, I'd love to hear about it :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well it has been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that. Here, have a chapter.

“Ariel, hi!” Moana cried out as soon as her new friend came in sight, trying to force herself not to sound  _ too _ cheerful. 

_Calm and poise, Moana_ , she told herself. _Calm and poise._ _If you can deal with the elders spouting nonsense at you for restarting old traditions, you can deal with one girl_.

Even if that girl was very pretty and not quite human.

As Ariel swam closer, Moana busied herself with getting the boat ready. She had the feeling Ariel wouldn’t want to just stay in the same place all day — not that Moana did, of course (she had been going kind of crazy waiting all morning) but if Ariel asked, she might… consider it.

And also, she really wanted something to keep her hands busy or she’d wring them in her anxiety again.

“Hi,” Ariel replied, leaning against the boat. The sunlight hitting her wet hair made it glow like blood and Moana’s heart skipped a beat.

“Hi,” she repeated stupidly. She shook her head and tried to tame her wide grin — she managed to downgrade it to a wide smile, but she could tell it would be the best she could get. “Do you want to come aboard?”

Ariel bit her lips. She looked tempted, Moana could tell, but eventually she shook her head, diving back underwater for half a second.

“Ah, no, thank you, I’m fine here. I’d rather stay in the water, if you don’t mind.”

Moana grinned past the twinge of disappointment in her chest. “Of course. That’s fine.”

Ariel grinned, her eyes sparkling. She was almost vibrating with excitement, and Moana grinned back. “So,” Ariel asked, leaning closer to the boat, “where are we going today?”

“That’s a surprise,” Moana replied. She had debated with herself for a long time on what to do, on where to go — somewhere new and unexplored? somewhere she knew? or perhaps nowhere at all, and they could simply race upon the waves — but in the end she had settled for her favorite place.

She was sure Ariel would like it.

Or well, she really hoped the other girl did.

Ariel’s eyes sparkled and she hoisted herself up against Moana’s boat, her tail the only part of her still in the water. “A surprise?” She sounded delighted.

Moana nodded, throat suddenly tight. She ducked her head down and busied her hands with readying her sail again. “Yup,” she replied, lips popping around the p. “It’s not that far, but…” She smirked. “Think you can keep up?”

Ariel shot her a look so offended that Moana couldn’t help but laugh before she launched herself backward and away from the ship. “Think  _ you _ can keep up with me?” Ariel retorted.

A familiar thrill travelled up her chest, and Moana grinned so wide her cheeks hurt. “Oh, I  _ know _ I can. Besides,  _ I _ know the way.” And with that, she let the sail drop. Wind engulfed it almost immediately, her ship picking up speed quickly, almost as though it had never been still in the first place.

Her hair bit at her shoulders where the wind pushed it back violently, and Moana took a long look at the sky to make sure her course was correct before she focused back on the water.

At first, she didn’t see Ariel. She was ready to slow down and let the mermaid catch up, to make sure she hadn’t already lost her new friend, but then she spotted red beneath the waves, a flash of brilliant scales that sparkled in the sun like nacre.

Perhaps sensing Moana’s focus, Ariel’s head poked through the waves, her hair plastered messily over her forehead and sticking to her cheeks. It slowed her down, swimming more closely to the way a human would instead of staying underwater, but not so much so that she couldn’t still keep up with Moana.

“Is that all you can do?” Ariel quipped challengingly. “I can go faster.”

It was almost hard to hear her between the sound of the wind and of the water, and it took a moment for Moana to parse out her words, but when she did, she shook her head. “So can I!” she shouted back, swallowing back the gleeful laughter bubbling in her chest.

Moana thought Ariel huffed at that, but it was impossible to tell for sure. The mermaid dove back underwater, and Moana could see that this time she was going even faster than before. No longer content to keep up, she was now trying to outpace Moana — which wouldn’t do. At all.

“Oh no, you don’t,” she whispered to herself through her clenched teeth, feeling her eyes narrow in concentration as she focused on getting her ship to pick up speed too.

For a while, they both forgot they had a destination and just played, pushing themselves as much as they could in a race with no set ending. Luckily, however, Moana had set up their course well — and perhaps Ariel knew something of the ocean that she didn’t which had helped them not getting hopelessly lost too — because the island she had been aiming for eventually appeared out in the horizon, almost like a mirage, floating above the waves.

It was habit to start slowing down a little at the sight of it, and soon Ariel’s head popped back up.

“What, giving up already?” she asked, smirking. She looked a little disappointed too, unless Moana was reading her wrong — and she didn’t think she was — but she also sounded a little out of breath.

“Hardly,” Moana replied. She nodded toward the distant stretch of land. “We’re just almost there.”

Ariel paused for an instant, eyes opened wide as she stared at the horizon. Moana sailed past her and Ariel let out an embarrassing squeaking sound before she dove back under and swam back toward the ship.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said, cheeks pink. “I just…” Her eyes darted toward the island again, now growing closer and clearer. It seemed as though she didn’t really believe it was there, or that it was real, like she expected it to vanish before her eyes.

Ariel pushed back her wet hair, swimming with only one arm extended before her for a few moments. She bit her lips. “Will there be people? You know,  _ humans _ ?”

Moana swallowed back a laugh — Ariel’s cheeks were red enough, and she had a feeling it wouldn’t be appropriate of her to laugh now. “Just you and me,” she promised. “I don’t think anyone else knows this island is there. I know I haven’t told anyone else about it, anyway.” She shrugged.

“... And you’re sharing it with me?”

“Of course,” Moana replied. “Nobody else I’d rather share it with.”

Ariel’s eyes widened, and she followed Moana to the island in silence.

It was true, of course, even if Moana didn’t really how much until she had said it out loud. This island had been the first one she had discovered on her own, back on her first break from the village and teaching everyone (or trying to, anyway) how to sail.

She had stumbled onto it the same way she had found most islands: luck. Back then, she hadn’t really had any direction other than  _ away _ and  _ out there _ — not that she had truly outgrown that urge, but these days she also had a few places she liked to visit and revisit during her excursions.

But this island felt special. It was  _ hers _ . She had found it and explored it all on her own, the first time she had truly stepped in her ancestors’ footsteps as not only a sailor but also someone who looked for new land.

She had shared the news of every other stretch of land she had found but this one. It was too small to be of much use to anyone but herself anyway, and Moana liked the idea of having this secret no one else knew.

She sneaked a glance to Ariel, who was eyeing the nearby beach with dubious eyes as she swam around Moana’s boat.  _ Well _ , she corrected herself, _ almost no one _ .

“So, err, this is… nice?” Ariel looked toward the beach like it was something venomous, eyeing the waves washing up on the shore like they were moments away from attacking her.

Which, Moana reminded herself, might not be too far off from the truth. After all, she couldn’t imagine it’d be pleasant or easy for Ariel to rejoin the water if she washed up on the shore with the waves.

Luckily, her plans didn’t involve Ariel getting to that beach, even if she had entertained the idea for a moment and a half, a pleasing fantasy she had then discarded.

She chuckled and angled her boat parallel to the beach, following it for a few minutes before it died out, turning from soft sand to rocks. Some of them were jagged, their edges sharp and cutting — something Moana unfortunately knew from experience — but most of them were flat enough, no doubt eroded by constant exposure to the elements.

The water remained somewhat deep here, even this close to the island itself, and Moana thought Ariel would appreciate it more than the shallows near the beach. She herself had explored those rocks often enough that she knew where and how to anchor her ship so it wouldn’t drift or crash, and on which stones she could safely step to reach the island’s ground in one piece.

With practiced ease, she unrolled a length of rope and looped it around a protubing rock, tying it securely. Her boat bobbed softly on the water and she stepped off it with two easy steps. The rocks were wet and slightly slippery, and she wiggled her toes with a smile.

“So?” she asked out loud, looking down at Ariel. “What do you think?”

The mermaid seemed to have found her own rock she could climb. She had hoisted herself on it, her fins the only part of her still in the water. Her scales shimmered in the sunlight and Moana had to avert her eyes when she realized she’d been staring.

Luckily, Ariel didn’t seem to notice, too busy staring at their surroundings. “Wow,” she said, and Moana chuckled, momentarily sad that she couldn’t show Ariel all that the island had to offer and that they had to stay by the coast.

“Impressive, huh?”

Voiceless, Ariel nodded.

“It’s really my favorite place to go after home,” Moana explained. She couldn’t remember if she had said so already, but it still felt important that she point this out.

Ariel smiled, touched. “Well, then I’m very glad you decided to share it with me. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Moana replied, feeling her cheeks heat up. She cleared her throat, hoping to disperse the awkwardness she could feel. “Anyway, do  _ you _ have a favorite place like this?”

There really was only one way to describe it — Ariel lit up at the question.

Pleased, Moana sat down and listened to her friend as Ariel started talking about a secret cave she had found and where she collected treasures. It was so very easy to picture it through Ariel’s words, and Moana lost herself in them, in a way surprisingly similar to the way she could lose herself upon the waves.

_ Oh _ , she thought as her eyes caught on Ariel’s grin.  _ Oh, so this is what that is _ .

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [the sea (it calls me to be a part of your world)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15841875) by [Marvelgeek42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvelgeek42/pseuds/Marvelgeek42)




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